Anchoring Stability: Managing Cost and Tech Volatility in the Public Sector 

Presented by: Mike Folkmann, Pure Storage

In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, government agencies and public sector organizations face relentless technological and financial volatility — from shifting mission requirements and security threats to unpredictable IT costs and supply chain pressures.

This session explores how modern data infrastructure can anchor stability and drive resilient outcomes. Using Pure Storage’s industry-leading all-flash and intelligent storage platform as a real-world example, we’ll examine strategies organizations can adopt to reduce risk, gain predictable performance, and protect budgets without sacrificing agility.

Key takeaways include:

• Achieving technological stability across evolving environments

• Mitigating cost volatility with smarter economic models

Explore how subscription-based storage offerings (like Evergreen//One) deliver predictable pricing and remove unexpected capital surprises, even in uncertain tariff or component cost environments. Long-term pricing commitments and transparent consumption models empower agencies to forecast budgets more effectively. 

• Lowering total cost of ownership while improving performance

• Strengthening operational resilience and continuity

Whether your goal is to stabilize IT budgets, modernize infrastructure, or safeguard your agency against future uncertainty, this session provides actionable insights for building a more resilient, cost-efficient technology foundation.

Speakers:

Mike Folkmann - Systems Engineer

Mike has been in the storage industry for nearly 20 years as a customer, reseller, and with two major OEM's. He has worked with Pure Storage since 2023 as a systems engineer covering SLED. He resided in IL for 14 years but now lives in the Kansas City area. 

GIANTS is a two and a half day conference full of opportunities to network with your peers, learn about new and exciting trends in local government technology, meet with industry leading vendors and enjoy some light entertainment.

As a government member, you get the opportunity to talk to others that fill a similar role for other organizations.  You can compare notes, share war stories, and learn how IT happens in their organization.

As a corporate member, you get face-to-face time with key technology decision makers.  Government members are the ones who drive innovation for their organizations.

Government AI Deep Dive: Prompt Engineering, Tools, Workflow Automation, and Governance

Most municipal IT leaders know AI matters but face a dual challenge: their teams aren't leveraging its real capabilities, and employees have unmanaged access to cloud AI tools that create genuine data privacy and residency risks for government operations.

• Effective prompt engineering techniques
• Workflow automation with orchestration platforms
• AI-assisted software development
• The landscape of available tools
• Critical cloud versus on-premise deployment considerations for sensitive government data

• An expanded view of what's achievable
• A survey of today's best tools
• The knowledge to evaluate and pursue AI adoption in their organizations.

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GIANTS is a two and a half day conference full of opportunities to network with your peers, learn about new and exciting trends in local government technology, meet with industry leading vendors and enjoy some light entertainment.

As a government member, you get the opportunity to talk to others that fill a similar role for other organizations.  You can compare notes, share war stories, and learn how IT happens in their organization.

As a corporate member, you get face-to-face time with key technology decision makers.  Government members are the ones who drive innovation for their organizations.

GIANTS is a two and a half day conference full of opportunities to network with your peers, learn about new and exciting trends in local government technology, meet with industry leading vendors and enjoy some light entertainment.

As a government member, you get the opportunity to talk to others that fill a similar role for other organizations.  You can compare notes, share war stories, and learn how IT happens in their organization.

As a corporate member, you get face-to-face time with key technology decision makers.  Government members are the ones who drive innovation for their organizations.